Working with a Consultant: Best Practices

As presented by Medea Valdez, Ph.D.

From her webinar, “Consultants and Accreditation Support”

It's great to see you again! If you’re following the current blog series, you’ll remember that last week, we discussed the many reasons why a PA program would need the help of a consultant when preparing for accreditation. 

Today, we’ll talk about best practices when working with a consultant. What do they expect from you; likewise, what can you reasonably expect from them? Let’s see how you can work together to produce the best results.

Give yourself enough time!

I cannot stress this enough: You must allow yourself and your program sufficient time to prepare for the rigors of the accreditation process. Especially if the program realizes that it has really lost focus, extra time and effort are absolutely needed to get back on track!

Preparing for your ARC site visit ideally starts years in advance. But programs often don’t think they have the time to do that. Then, accreditation and preparing for the application become critical last-minute concerns. It becomes stressful and overwhelming for the program director and the entire team.

You must allow a minimum of 12-15 months from application submission. However, I strongly recommend allowing more time than that: beginning 18-24 months ahead of time. A time period approaching two years permits the work to do all this while still running your program. 

I like to work with my programs in “waves.” In the first wave, we do some hard work on a certain component, then there is a break before the next wave begins. Conquering individual challenges is much better than waiting until the last minute to tackle everything. That wave will knock you flat!

Adopt a collaborative mindset

In Blog 2 of my series, we talked about the importance of a collaborative mindset among your program’s faculty, staff, and administration. Now, it’s time to include the consultant in that collaboration. You must be ready and willing to work hard, weigh what the consultant says through your program’s missions, goals, and structure, and most importantly, be willing to implement change!

A consultant cannot do everything for you or wave a magic wand and fix all the problems. Preparing for accreditation will be hard work for everyone, and it will be harder to the greater degree your program has lost focus.  Having a consultant on board will help ensure that all your hard work leads in the right direction and produces long-term practical results.

Understand the scope of the work

Do some self-reflection. What does your program need? What is the scope of work that needs to be done? Is it just a document review? Maybe you need a consultant on an hourly fee. Or, perhaps you would rather have someone on retainer who walks alongside you throughout the process and is more available to work with you longitudinally.

Avoiding / Addressing adverse actions

No program wants a citation, but sometimes issues cannot be fixed in time. A consultant can assist in minimizing the extent of a possible adverse action. You may need someone to help you create the action plans that will allow you to come into compliance in the areas you know you’re not. Don’t ignore those areas! Have a plan and be able to address those areas of risk.

Establishing the Agreement

You and your consultant should have a clear and realistic understanding of the following aspects of your relationship with a consultant.

1. Deliverables. Having a clear notion of when things are expected keeps a cadence throughout the process. This includes due dates for everything: documents, narratives, and even website reviews.

2. Accountability. Knowing who is responsible for what is critical!

3. Flexibility. This work is iterative and can sometimes feel repetitive and frustrating. Documents may come back repeatedly with suggestions and edits. New recommendations from the ARC-PA might be announced, requiring another review of specific components. Because the whole process is longitudinal, you may reach a point where it feels like some facet has been completed, only to learn that it needs tweaking again. Be prepared for that feeling and understand that it’s simply the nature of the beast. 

4. Communication. Up front, decide how meetings, emails, and phone calls will be handled and how often you can expect an information exchange.

5. Transparency. Agree that problems should be addressed sooner rather than later! If something isn’t working on either side of the relationship, agree to speak up.

6. Honesty. You should be open about what you were expecting from your consultant; likewise, you should understand that the consultant may have to relay bad news about your program’s procedures or status. The best path is to own the truths and get back to working on solutions.

7. Transformation. Everyone involved should view this approach as a framework for your program's future. Your consultant will help you change the way you do things—or, in some cases, confirm that your processes are reliable.

Next Time…

I hope you’ll join me again! In the next blog in my series, we’ll take a deeper dive into your program’s ongoing system of self-assessment and how a consultant can hone these structures to:

• Align with ARC-PA expectations

• Be sustainable and faculty-friendly

• Be reviewable and adaptable to change when assessment gaps are discovered
  

See you then!